Soil compaction and floatation have always been important issues for farmers operating tractors and other farming vehicles in their fields. It has thus been found advantageous to replace two or even all four wheels of farming tractors (and other wheeled vehicles) with track systems which use endless traction bands instead of wheels for propulsion.
Using track systems instead of wheels brings several advantages when operated on soft terrains. For instance, the larger surface area of the traction bands improves the floatation and also generally improves the overall traction of the tractor.
However, tractors, and other similar normally wheeled vehicles, are still typically sold with wheels and are typically configured to be operated with wheels. Hence, tractors are typically not configured to receive or support track systems. Thus, when an operator wants to replace the wheels of its tractor with track systems, the installation may involve the attachment of the track systems to the vehicle at locations which, in some case, were not initially designed to support and/or sustain the additional load imparted by the track systems during use.
This is true of track systems installed as replacement of steerable wheels, typically the front wheels, since the track systems need to remain steerable. Hence, the replacement of steerable wheels by track systems may involve the attachment of the track systems to or near the steering knuckles (e.g. to the wheel hubs, to the bolts holding the kingpin, etc.).
However, as the steering knuckles of a tractor are generally not made nor configured to support track systems, these installations may be difficult, can cause premature wearing of steering components of the tractor, and/or can even cause premature failure of those components. These installations can also cause premature wearing of components of the track systems (i.e. the traction band, road wheels, idler wheels, etc.) due, for instance, to misalignment between the track systems and the vehicle.
Hence, despite the advantages of using track systems on farming tractors and other similar vehicles, there are still some shortcomings that need to be addressed.